DE69903121T2 - Forming machine for molding soles and insoles for footwear - Google Patents

Abstract

Forming machine (1) for forming soles and insoles for footwear including a base (2) which supports: at least one storage container (3) for said unformed insoles; handling means (19) to retrieve said insoles (15) from said storage container (3) and position them between the forming means (4); forming means (4) including a die (6) and a punch (7) facing each other; pressing means (5) suited to reciprocally force said die (6) and said punch (7) against each other along a thrust axis (X-X), to produce the forming of said insoles. At least one of said die (6) and punch (7) is linked to a rocking bolster plate (14) pivoted to said pressing means (5), suited to set said die (6) or punch (7) at an angle to said thrust axis (X-X) allowing the progressive closure of said die and punch during the rotation of said plate (14) around said pivot and the release of said insole by said handling means (19). <IMAGE>

Description

The invention relates to a molding machine which is particularly suitable for automatically molding soles and insoles for the manufacture of footwear.

Such machines are known from FR-A 23 64 003 and US-A 1 655 126, both of which form the basis for the preamble of patent claim 1.

As is well known, shoes have, in addition to their upper part, which is generally referred to as the shaft, a lower part, shown in Fig. 1, which is composed of the insole A, the actual sole B and the heel C.

Those skilled in the footwear sector will know that, in order to deform the sole B, mechanical presses are used which have a movable die and a fixed counter-die in order to give the sole a permanent shape which has a longitudinal arch which is more pronounced the higher the heel C. The presses in question have a hydraulic or pneumatic circuit in order to apply to the movable die a compressive force which acts against the sole which has previously been placed between the die and the fixed counter-die.

The special shape of the mating surfaces of the stamping die and the counter-die also allows the sole to be deformed in transverse directions in order to give it a slightly concave shape in the middle area that corresponds to the shape of the foot.

The mentioned insole A is often glued to the sole B and consists, as the exploded view of Fig. 2 shows, of essentially consists of a flat upper surface A1, a metal interlayer A2 and - above the heel area - a reinforcing layer A3 made of fibreboard. Once the above-mentioned components of the insole or insole A have been assembled, the latter is deformed in a similar way to that already explained for the sole B. Since the insole is considerably thinner than the sole, the permanent curvature is mainly ensured by the metal interlayer A2 which is placed in the section connecting the front area to the rear area. If this curvature is very pronounced, in order to adapt to high-heeled shoes, the initial distance between the stamping die and the counter-die must be sufficiently large to enable the operator to easily insert any insole, which is initially essentially flat, before initiating the active phase of deforming the insole by means of the press. This gives rise to the technical problem of inserting the insole precisely and stably between the stamping die and the counter-die in the open position, even when the insole is released, so that the deformations in the press can be carried out under safe conditions.

Known molding machines have a vertically acting press with a movable upper die and a fixed lower die. Even today, the insole is manually inserted between the stamping die and the counter die by the machine operator, who takes an insole each time from a magazine that contains the insoles to be formed, and then places them horizontally on the fixed counter die before the movable stamping die is operated.

This results in the easily recognizable first disadvantage regarding the accuracy of positioning the insole, on which the exact shape depends, whereby this accuracy depends on depends on the experience of the operator and can never be the same for all insoles.

Another disadvantage concerns the immovable support of the insole on the counter-die after it has been released by the operator and before the pressure effect is initiated by the stamping die, whereby this stable position is often impaired by the closing movement of the die. Another disadvantage is the complicated and time-consuming manual interventions, which also require the operator to remove the formed insole before he or she can insert the next insole.

In addition, all these activities must be carried out in compliance with the safety provisions laid down by law, which requires the use of safety devices that increase production costs.

Newer molding machines, which can be described as semi-automatic in terms of the positioning operations for inserting the insole between the die and the counter-die, have a horizontal conveyor belt on which the insoles to be molded are placed at equal distances from one another and which is essentially still flat; this belt moves step by step between the die and the counter-die in their open position, with the press being operated at regular intervals to pressurize the dies which enclose the insole and the conveyor belt between them. The conveyor belt therefore also serves as an organ for discharging the insoles from the molding area.

However, these machines do not avoid the disadvantage of a low precision in the positioning of each insole relative to the dies. Furthermore, these machines have the disadvantage of rapid wear of the conveyor belt, which is subjected to the repeated pressure exerted by the dies. although this pressure should only act on the insoles.

Molding machines with vertical presses and horizontal feed belts have the additional disadvantage that they take up a lot of space, especially laterally, since their magazine for receiving the insoles to be molded and the collection container for the molded insoles protrude laterally from opposite parts of the press.

The invention is based on the object of avoiding the disadvantages outlined above.

It is therefore a particular object of the present invention to provide a molding machine that allows automatic positioning of the insoles between the stamping die and the counter-die with great precision and always in the same position.

A further object is that the molding machine according to the invention should make any manual intervention by an operator unnecessary, both when inserting the insoles and when removing them.

Finally, the invention is also intended to solve the problem of developing a very compact molding machine. In addition, all operations in the molding of the insoles are to be carried out much more quickly in order to reduce processing costs.

The above and other objects are explained in more detail below and achieved by a molding machine for molding soles and insoles for shoes, which in accordance with the content of claim 1 has a base with the following components:

- at least one magazine for holding the insoles to be deformed,

- feeding means for removing the insoles from the magazine and for positioning them between the molding means,

- Forming means with an embossing stamp and an opposing die,

- Pressure medium for the mutual pressure approach of the stamping die and the counter joint in the direction of the thrust axis for forming the insoles,

characterized in that at least the embossing punch or the counter die is connected to a pivot plate which is pivotably mounted on the pressure means, so that the embossing punch or the counter die can be arranged at an angle to the thrust axis, so that a progressive closing movement between the embossing punch and the counter die during the rotational movement of the pivot plate about its pivot point and a release of the insole from the feed means is possible.

An advantage of the invention is that the pivot plate is attached to the movable part of the pressure means and holds the die which is part of this pressure means.

According to a variant of the invention, a swivel plate is attached both to the movable part of the pressure means which receives the stamping die and to the fixed part for receiving the counter-die.

Further particular embodiments of the invention are the subject of claims 2 to 12.

Further features and details of the invention emerge from the following description of an embodiment of the invention and the mentioned variant, which are shown in a non-limiting manner in the drawing. They show:

Fig. 1 the conventional composition of the lower part of a shoe,

Fig. 2 a common composition of the inner or insole,

Fig. 3 is a side view of a molding machine according to the invention,

Fig. 4 the corresponding top view of this machine,

Fig. 5 the detailed top view of the working area of the machine,

Fig. 6 the side view of this work area,

Fig. 7 the initial position of the insole between the stamping die and counter die,

Fig. 8 is a side view of the working phase shown in Fig. 7,

Fig. 9 is a plan view of the working phase following the machining phase shown in Figs. 7 and 8,

Fig. 10 is a plan view of the working phase following Fig. 9 and

Fig. 11 shows an embodiment of the invention.

The molding machine according to the invention is shown in its entirety in both Figures 3 and 4, where it has the reference number 1. It comprises a base frame 2 which supports a magazine 3 for receiving still unmolded insoles, conveyor means (these are explained in more detail below) for removing the insoles from the magazine and positioning them between the molding means 4, and pressure means 5 for actuating the molding means 4.

The molding means 4 consist of a stamping die 6 and a counter die 7, which are located opposite one another at a suitable distance and are arranged in such a way that in the open position they can receive the insole to be molded from the conveying means.

The pressure means 5 are designed to move the stamping die 6 and the counter die 7 along a substantially horizontal Press the thrust axis XX against each other to deform the inserted insole.

In the embodiment of Fig. 5 and 6, the pressure means 5 have a fixed part 8 which carries the counter-die 7 and which is mechanically fastened to the ends of four identical, cylindrical guide rods 9, the axes of which run parallel to the thrust axis X-X and whose corner points lie on a rectangle, as well as a movable part 10 which carries the stamping die 6 and is movably assigned to the guide rods 9.

The movable part 10 of the pressure means 5 consists of a main plate 11, which can be moved on the cylindrical guide rods 9 via a pressure element 12 and on which a pivoting plate 14 is pivotably mounted via a pin 13, which carries the embossing stamp 6.

The pin 13 forms the axis of rotation for the swivel plate 14 and runs essentially at a right angle to the thrust axis X-X, so that the stamping die 6 can assume an inclined position to the thrust axis X-X. This inclined position makes it possible to carry out a progressive closing movement of the stamping die 6 relative to the counter die 7 and against the insole 15 inserted between them, whereby the swivel plate 14 rotates about the pin 13. For this purpose, the swivel plate 14 is elastically supported with respect to the main plate 11 by the use of spring means 17 between the two plates 11 and 14.

In the embodiment of Fig. 5 and 6, these spring means consist of a guide rod 17, one end 171 of which is hinged to the pivot plate 14, while the other end 172 slides through a through hole 111 of the main plate 11 and is hinged to an extension 112 of this plate. The guide rod 17 interacts with a helical spring 18 which is externally mounted on the guide rod. and is supported at one end on the main plate 11 and at the other end on the pivot plate 14, so that the stamping die 6 is arranged obliquely to the thrust axis XX in its rest position in which the dies are open according to the figures.

The insole 15 to be deformed is brought into the position indicated in the figures by feeding means 19, which can be seen in Fig. 6 and which have a gripper 20, the movements of which are carried out in such a way that they grasp the insoles, which are fed in series one after the other by a removal member 21 from the magazine 3, after which they are brought very precisely into the deformation zone between the stamping die 6 and the counter-die 7.

The position of the magazine 3 and the insole removal members 21 are conveniently provided above the deformation zone of the machine, so that the gripper 20 can work vertically with alternating movements, gripping the insole 15 at its tip 151, which can be seen in the enlarged detail at the side of Fig. 5.

The molding machine according to the invention has means for ejecting the molded insole, which are designated as a whole by 22. These delivery means 22 comprise a band-shaped element 23, the central region 230 of which moves between the insole 15 and the counter-die 7 and to which are assigned discharge elements, for example loose rollers 24, as well as tension elements, designated as a whole by 25, which serve to make the band-shaped element 23 elastically flexible and to be able to move it alternately in order to eject the insoles when the die is opened.

The mentioned tension elements have a tensioning element, which consists for example of a pneumatic cylinder 26, which is connected to one end of the band-shaped element 23, and a elastic element consisting of a spring 27 which is connected to the other end of the band-shaped element.

The work processes for forming from a flat sole are shown one after the other in Fig. 7 to 10.

Thus, Fig. 7 shows schematically the mutual position of the insole 15, which is already gripped at the tip 151 by the gripper 20, and the embossing stamp 6 with counter-die 7 before the downward movement of the gripper 20 in the direction of the arrow Y in order to bring the insole 15 between the embossing stamp 6 and the counter-die 7 into their open position.

Fig. 8 shows how, after this positioning, the gripper 20 performs a limited pivoting movement in the direction of arrow Z in order to place the insole 15 with its heel 152 against the counter-die 7. At the same time, the pivot plate 14, through the action of the pressure element 12, which causes a displacement in the direction of arrow W, brings the stamping die 6 into contact with the insole 15 and, due to the inclination of the pivot plate to the thrust axis X-X, begins with the area of the heel 152, as shown in Fig. 9.

The initial contact of the stamping die 6 clamps the inner sole in the precise position required by the shaping, so that the gripper 20 is now able to release the inner sole 15, since it is now firmly clamped, so that the gripper can quickly move upwards before the pressure means complete the closing phase between the stamping die 6 and counter-die 7. This closing phase is thus brought about by a rotational movement of the pivot plate 14 about the axis formed by the pin 13, this movement being counteracted by the above-explained resilient means during the closing phase of the die and serving to return the pivot plate 14 to the initial inclined position during the subsequent opening phase of the die.

Fig. 10 shows the die in the fully closed position, with the gripper 20 shown in dashed lines in the open position as it is now in a position above the deformation zone and ready to remove a new insole from the magazine above so that a new machining cycle can begin.

In the meantime, the opening phase of the joint begins, the process of which is now completely understandable. However, it is useful to point out the functions of the previously mentioned ejector for the insoles.

From Fig. 6 it can be seen that the elastic reaction force of the central region 230 of the band-shaped element 23 promotes the separation of the insole 15 from the counter-die 7 when the die 6 begins its opening movement, although there is still the possibility that the insole 15 will remain attached to the band-shaped element and not fall into the collecting container arranged under the deformation zone.

With the previously mentioned ejector elements 25 it is possible to avoid this risk. In particular, the sequence of the operation of the cylinder 26 causes the band element 23 to run alternately in jerks over its deflection rollers 24, so that the insole 15, which may still be adhering to the band-shaped element 230, is forced to make a downward movement which ejects the insole downwards, causing a detachment by contact with an underlying stop element, which is not shown.

The molding machine 1 according to the invention can have the above-explained pivoting plate 14, which is assigned to the stamping die 6, but it can also be assigned to the counter die 7, whereby the mode of operation is analogous.

A further variant is shown in Fig. 11, where it is shown that the machine has a pair of pivot plates 60 and 61, which are opposite each other and both arranged inclined with respect to the thrust axis X-X.

The first pivot plate 60 carries the stamping die 6, while the second pivot plate 70 carries the counter die 7.

The double inclination symmetrical to the thrust axis X-X allows easier insertion of the insole 15 between the stamping die 6 and the counter die 7 by means of the gripper 20, in particular when insoles 15 with a very strong curvature in the middle area are to be formed.

Furthermore, the symmetrical pivoting movement when closing the stamping die 6 and counter die 7 against the inner sole 15, starting in the area of the heel 152, avoids the risk of the inner sole being slightly stretched in its longitudinal direction during the molding process in the machine, which cannot be ruled out with only one pivoting plate.

From the above explanations it follows that the molding machine according to the invention achieves all the objectives set.

During implementation, the shape and number of active elements may be modified with respect to the embodiment described and shown. For example, the conveying means for the insoles and the pressure elements for actuating the pressure means of the machine may be operated pneumatically, mechanically or in another way.

Possible variants that deviate from the described and illustrated embodiments are therefore within the scope of the inventive concept.

Claims (12)

1. Moulding machine (1) for moulding soles and insoles for shoes with a base (2), comprising: - at least one magazine (3) for receiving the insoles to be deformed, - feeding means (19) for removing the insoles (15) from the magazine (3) and for positioning them between the molding means (4), - Forming means (4) with an embossing stamp (6) and an opposite die (7), - Pressure means (5) for the mutual pressure approach of the stamping die (6) and the counter die (7) in the direction of the thrust axis (X-X) for forming the insoles, characterized in that at least the stamping die (6) or the counter-die (7) is connected to a pivot plate (14) which is pivotably mounted on the pressure means (5) so that the stamping die (6) or the counter-die (7) can be arranged at an angle to the thrust axis (X-X) so that a progressive closing movement between the stamping die and the counter-die during the rotational movement of the pivot plate (14) about its pivot point and a release of the insole from the feed means (19) is possible. 2. Machine (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the pressure means (5) comprise at least one main plate (11) which is mechanically connected to a pressure member (12) which holds the pivoting plate (14), the pivoting plate being pivotably mounted on a pin (13) which forms an axis of rotation which runs substantially at right angles to the thrust axis (X-X). 3. Machine (1) according to claim 2, characterized in that the pivot plate (14) is elastically movable relative to the main plate (11) is resiliently supported by resilient means (16) inserted between the plates (11, 14). 4. Machine (1) according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the elastic means (16) have a guide rod (17) which is connected at one end (171) to the pivot plate (14) and at the other end (172) is slidably seated in a through-bore (111) of the main plate (11), and which cooperates with a helical spring (18) which is coaxially mounted on the outside of the guide rod (17), one end of the spring being supported on the pivot plate (14) and the other end on the main plate (11). 5. Machine (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the feed means (11) has at least one movable gripper (20) for grasping the insoles (15) one after the other in order to place them between the stamping die (6) and the counter die (7). 6. Machine (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the pressure element (12) consists of a hydraulic actuating element. 7. Machine (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the pressure element (12) consists of a pneumatic actuating element. 8. Machine (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the pressure member (12) consists of a mechanical actuating member. 9. Machine (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the ejection means (23, 24, 25) for the delivery of the inner soles from the stamping die (6) and counter-die (7) consist of a band-shaped element (23; 230) which is inserted between the inner sole and the stamping die or counter-die and is connected to circulating means (24) and tensioning means (25) which elastically flexible and alternately movable in order to eject the insole (15) in the open position of the die. 10. Machine (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the clamping means (25) comprise clamping elements (26, 27) which are connected to the ends of the band-shaped element. 11. Machine (1) according to claim 10, characterized in that the clamping means (26, 27) have at least one spring (27). 12. Machine (1) according to claim 10, characterized in that the clamping means (26, 27) has at least one pneumatic element (26).